When starting a new project totally from scratch, it might sometimes take up to a year before we start planting and protecting the first trees. That's a very long time you might think, but WeForest believes that high quality Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) projects need to move across the landscape at a speed where we can take the time for excellent planning and logistics, and most importantly, that involve the local community at all stages of the process.
Forest fires are a result of global warming, they also increase it. They cause more carbon to be released, increase temperatures, transforming land into deserts.
See the WeForest CEO interviewed on Belgian news (video in French)
Thank you Archbishop Desmond Tutu for your wise words written for us 5 years ago. Your wisdom continues to inspire us. (Extract from the book: "Forests, reasons to be hopeful", 2013 - by Bill Liao):
Teaching a weekend course on Tropical Forest Restoration in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in exchange for trees being planted for WeForest's Atlantic Forest Project, Ricardo Cesar, WeForest's Brazil Country Representative, does not shy away from dedicating his free time to engage with over 20 graduate and undergraduate students, spark lively discussions and plant more trees!
WeForest, in collaboration with FAO's Forest and Water Programme and GIZ delivered a forest-water capacity building workshop in Mekelle, Ethiopia during June 2018. The workshop trained technical participants from a range of government, NGO and research organisations aiming to build the capacity and knowledge of forest-water monitoring in Ethiopia, as it relates to Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR).
“Governments need quality standards to know whether we are achieving FLR or not. We don’t want FLR to be fake news” explained Rafael Chaves of the Secretariat for the Environment of the State of Sâo Paulo, Brazil recently at a special event organised by WeForest and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) with the support of PARTNERS in Nairobi, Kenya during 31st August - 1st Sept 2018.
"So what do we do ? It's simple. Be a hero (..) plant a tree...(...) But above all, remain hopeful".
Read the full article from "Global Citizenship REVIEW", 3rd quarter 2018 - p 28-29 here. Article written by Dr Cathy Symington, WeForest Advisor and Marie-Noëlle Keijzer, WeForest Founder and CEO
Land degradation already negatively impacts the lives of 3.2 billion people across the globe. Halting and reversing this degradation through Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) is now an international priority to address climate change, biodiversity loss, food and water security and improvement of human well-being.
On 13 August, Harry Lyon-Smith, Illustration Ltd’s CEO, and his wife, Juliet, had the delight of planting Illustration's 500,000th tree in Zambia. Illustration Ltd had previously planted 500,000 trees in Ethiopia, so have reached the magic number of 1 million trees, with every ambition to keep on planting.
The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) has published a new global scientific assessment highlighting the need for an integrated approach to managing forest and water resources in order to achieve the environmental, social and economic targets set out under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
July 2018: the planting can start in the north of Ethiopia.
The nursery employees are preparing seedlings to be loaded to the truck and transplanted by the community to our final restoration sites in the degraded Desaa forest.
WeForest is fast growing international non-profit association with headquarters in Belgium and reforestation projects in Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Tanzania, and Zambia. It is demonstrating through the restoration of entire regions that well-planned reforestation can be the solution to today’s biggest challenge: global warming. The organization is promoting Forest Landscape Restoration best practices, creating a movement, engaging the greatest brands.
We use more ecological resources and services than nature can regenerate through overfishing, overharvesting forests, and emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than ecosystems can absorb. This year, Overshoot Day is on August 1st (source www.overshootday.org) We want to #MoveTheDate!
A third of all land on Earth is severely degraded making it difficult to produce food and collect clean water. How will we live when it’s all gone? The UN World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought reminds us on June 17 that “Land has true value. Invest in it.”
People often ask us why WeForest only works in the tropics.
Forests are known for removing the excess of CO2 from the atmosphere and cool our climate: 50% of a tree is actually stored carbon. The type of land cover however matters when considering what scientists call ‘the albedo effect’: the darker the land cover, the more it will absorb solar radiation and therefore heat. The type of trees and the climate in which climate they grow also play a key role in regulating temperatures.
Where do you go to get your food? What about your medicines, aspirin, antiseptics and the like? How about where you get your heating from (turn on a switch, yes?) or the heat to cook your food (another switch or maybe a dial)? How about your home, where did that come from? The roads you drive on, the bridges you use to cross the rivers where you live? Fairly likely you’re thinking of the local shopping centres, electricity at the flick of a switch, gas on tap.
Did I miss Valentine’s Day this year? Is this a soppy romance? Is it the stereotyped outline of the next block-buster (or possibly B-grade) movie to grace our screens? Maybe, but in this specific case, relax. No, it doesn’t mean you missed Valentine’s Day (unless you did, but that’s another story). It’s also not exactly a soppy romance or the next love-lost story framework coming our way, unless just maybe it is.
This EarthDay (April 22) our collective power is directed at plastic, all its merciless forms to be found literally everywhere, our land, our oceans, our bodies, our air and our trees …
We think plastic is uncool and WeForest’s purpose is to Make Earth Cooler - so we invite you to:
Choose the project you would like to support, choose the number of trees and make a donation in honour of your friend, colleague or family. You will receive a printable gift card that is sure to warm the heart of anyone that finds it under the Christmas tree.
You will also regularly receive updates and photos from the project sites showing how your donation is making a difference to the local communities.
To purchase a WeForest gift card, follow these simple steps:
WeForest is looking for an experienced Country Representative for Brazil to develop, manage and coordinate Forest Landscape Restoration project(s) and associated applied research.
